Barrett was an engineer with broad experience in operations. He was the guy that invented copy exactly and is personally responsible for Intel becoming the manufacturing powerhouse it currently is. However there is reason to argue that Barrett was the worst CEO in Intel's history. More than $20B blown on acquisitions, mostly in cash, at the top of the market, and mostly written off. I cannot think of a single company that has not been either sold at a substantial loss or shut down. Intel knows how to execute, this is not their problem, they are the best in the world at it. Intel needs something to execute on to diversify their business, and operations wizards typically do not excel in that department. Let's give BK the benefit of the doubt, he just does not seem to have the background. ONE patent, no active visibility in the industry outside Intel... Time will tell.

Barrett was an engineer with broad experience in operations. He was the guy that invented copy exactly and is personally responsible for Intel becoming the manufacturing powerhouse it currently is. However there is reason to argue that Barrett was the worst CEO in Intel's history. More than $20B blown on acquisitions, mostly in cash, at the top of the market, and mostly written off. I cannot think of a single company that has not been either sold at a substantial loss or shut down. Intel knows how to execute, this is not their problem, they are the best in the world at it. Intel needs something to execute on to diversify their business, and operations wizards typically do not excel in that department. Let's give BK the benefit of the doubt, he just does not seem to have the background. ONE patent, no active visibility in the industry outside Intel... Time will tell.

The comments are interesting. I think it is usually best to promote from within unless the company really needs a big change in direction. I don't think Intel is a company that needs a big change in direction. As the largest semiconductor company in the world, their task is to maintain momentum. Incremental improvements will beat huge changes. I also believe that the leadership needs to be very technical and not just bean counters. If you let the finance guys run the company, you will make a lot of money for a short time.

The comments are interesting. I think it is usually best to promote from within unless the company really needs a big change in direction. I don't think Intel is a company that needs a big change in direction. As the largest semiconductor company in the world, their task is to maintain momentum. Incremental improvements will beat huge changes. I also believe that the leadership needs to be very technical and not just bean counters. If you let the finance guys run the company, you will make a lot of money for a short time.